


Volume 1; Episode 1: Ruby is A Rose

by TheReWritersGuild



Series: RWBY: Hunters For Hire [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, Rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-11-28 17:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20970452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheReWritersGuild/pseuds/TheReWritersGuild
Summary: Welcome to a Remnant reimagined! But even new worlds have similar beginnings...This one still starts with but a single rose. Ruby Rose, daughter of a hunter constantly out on the job. Even if her life was so separate from her mother on the island of Patch, she's committed herself to taking up the family business, taking every little step she could to get there. The latest one? Getting into Beacon Academy. Which means sitting before the one and only Headmaster Ozpin...





	Volume 1; Episode 1: Ruby is A Rose

Volume 1: I Am A Rose  
Begin Recording…

Episode 1: Ruby is a Rose 

The moment came to life with the flick of a switch. An overhead, swinging bulb, highlighting two silhouettes. Silhouettes that sat in cold metal chairs, across from each other and separated by a small metal table, on which what belongings they’d brought had their own shadows. A short stack of documents was stately overshadowed by a large, crimson chunk of shaped metal, unmistakably a weapon.  
The two had brought themselves and their select belongings to this chillingly simple room for one purpose.  
Conversation.  
“I know we've already been talking, but I'll be asking just to verify." A masculine voice pierced the current silence.  
"It says here that your name is Ruby Rose…You’re sixteen years old, were born on October 31st, and are from the island of Patch. Is that true, miss?” This silhouette spoke with a controlled tone of voice, something one would call unmistakably robotic other than the question at the end. That brought some inquisitive interest to the sophistication. Light fell on his bespectacled face, his glasses shadowing pale features, at least other than his white hair. Dressed in a black suit, paired with an olive green vest and scarf , the name card clipped to his breast pocket read “Headmaster Ozpin”. Underneath it rested the emblematic pin of a purple cross. And compared to the meek shadow he was facing, he towered over her with an amazing presence.  
A presence that shadow could feel, as they placed their pale, jittering hands on the table in front of them, draped over the crimson hunk of metal. They sat forward into the light, their black hair making a slight swish. With quivering lips and a chipper voice they gave the only answer they could come up with.  
“Yes! That's-…That's really me…” Spoken as if they couldn’t believe it. Ruby poured enough enthusiasm into nodding her head to fuel a small settlement.  
“Breathe, miss, we’ve met before, remember?” Ozpin smiled with what warmth he could, sitting back to give her more space.  
Ruby would’ve rather said “How could I forget?!” but her lips could barely form “Yep, we really did!”  
` “It was…Wow, it must’ve been at least two months ago, right? Haha! Time flies, huh…? Hah…” She continued to sputter words, hoping to run through all the energy she had. Ozpin realigned his spectacles, finding some small joy in remembering that meeting.  
“Yes, but we’re here today to discuss something else, yes?” Ozpin began to shift around papers, clicking a pen, and setting up for work. “Why do you want to become a Huntress?” He inquired, watching Ruby perk up and her gaze moving downward in her focus.  
“What made you want to be a hunter?”  
Ruby began to speak, still chipper and interested, but now far more pensive.  
“My mother always used to say something to me at night, right before I went to bed…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“We’re all very fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, aren’t we? A lot of the heroes you see today are the remnants of those heroes, we’re all made of what those before left behind.” She said. That’s what she said to me exactly every time she finished a bedtime story. And she meant it too. I really didn’t know it then, but this was part of her life, y’know? But she said something else too-  
“You are a Rose, don’t forget that you can grow on your own, no matter where your roots are. Okay, petal cheeks?”  
“Yes, Mom.”  
Then she’d kiss me on the cheek, take her weapon off the wall and leave. I couldn’t go to sleep. No matter how tired I was from playing, swinging around sticks, running all over. Anything. I couldn’t sleep when I was wondering where she was. That day, and for what felt like forever afterwards, I had to get up and go to Dad’s room. I brought Chess for him to play with me. Even then, it was the only thing that could keep him up for long enough for me to fall asleep.  
He beat me for the longest time, but that wasn’t the point. I really just needed to talk to him.  
“What’s Mom doing?” I always asked.  
“Hunting monsters.” He always answered.  
And then he played, and played to win no matter what. Then I got him talking longer.  
“Why are the monsters here?”  
“Because people get so sad that they make the monsters hungry.”  
“Is anyone helping Mom?”  
“Mom’s fighting them alone.”  
“Really? Is there really no one else?”  
“We’re here, and other hunters are out there for her. That always helps, Ruby.”  
“How? Aren’t those monsters strong?”  
“We make her happy, and we make each other happy, that’s enough.”  
I just kept talking. And soon enough, he started talking back, telling me about how he was a hunter too. After all that I felt like I could sleep easier, and I was just playing with him to hear more and more. I got better at chess too! But..but anyway… eventually I couldn’t have anymore bedtime stories, and Dad never wanted to play.  
That, and whenever I played with my sister, I always won, so…  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Ozpin narrowed his eyes as he mulled over his documents, flipping through the pages of information. He scrolled over text as he listened before his brows softened up, and he was able to look back to Ruby again. “So it was all in the family, hm?” He quietly inquired, beginning to write.  
Ruby’s scarlet eyes came into the light, the edges of her irises showing signs of glimmering, reflective silver. She seems to tense up as if tears were about to stream down her cheeks, but in that same instant all that stress dissolved into a wide smile. “There was just no way I could let all that go!” She beamed, completely and confidently sitting forward, not weighed down by her quilted leather coat. It’s all enough to stop Ozpin’s pen.  
“I made little wooden knives and swords, y’know. Went into the woods and tried to train, like, really, really train. It all reminded me of her, it helped me sleep. And- And my Dad yelled at me for it too! It wasn’t like he was wrong for that, I got hurt sometimes… but he taught me how to do it right.” Ruby continued, sighing to slow her hummingbird breaths.  
There was a silence between them at that moment, the air cooled off. Ozpin’s pen filled the void, and eventually he nodded his head. “That must’ve given you an edge at Signal…You’re currently top of your class there, if this form is correct.” He quietly commented, stifling a grin from forming on his face.  
“Er…Yes…" She bashfully replied, cheeks going pink on top of her pale skin.  
New light streamed into the room, revealing the shadowed visage of a smartly dressed woman, coming in with a quite distinct aroma.  
"C-cookies?" Ruby felt herself stiffen, glancing around with her eyes instead of turning to the woman behind her placing the freshly baked delights at her side. Ozpin smiled to this lady, though he never even thought of reaching for the confections while he was composing his next question.  
"That being said, we'll be moving on now. Just so I can have an idea, I'd like to know what combat experience you've had and what you've learned from it." The Headmaster's newest inquisition brought an awkward half-smile to Ruby's face.  
"Isn't that how we met? That all happened, r-right?" She quibbled, flinching as a large tablet Scroll was placed in front of her face.  
"I should hope that you remembered an encounter like that from how lovely, ahem, lively you were that night." Came the shrewd woman behind her, setting a video to play on the scroll.  
"Yep! Er, yeah…right, that was a total rush." Ruby admitted, beginning to feel some kind of pressure now that she was in front of a recording of her own exploits.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Ruby’s whole plan was really to just go home. At least, that’s how she would’ve put it in conversation. The video said exactly the opposite as it saw her quietly trailing, or rather skipping ahead of some thuggish types in a black dress and frilly skirt each with their own crimson trim at the edges. She got a certain kind of feeling from those guys anyway. The feeling that large guys in light coats, beanies, and the occasional 15 lien suit who had nothing dust-related to carry in their little posse probably had no reason to go into a dust shop honestly. That, and she herself knew that only two types of people come into a dust shop to ogle at the product; Complete geeks like her, or organized thieves like them. She got all giddy at first, putting on her headphones soon after entering just to cover it all up.  
From Dust till Dawn never saw it coming, Ruby however was nigh expecting it. What she wasn’t expecting was for the thugs to start this whole fiasco off immediately. There’s nothing that reminds somebody that they’ve never stopped a robbery before than someone clutching their shoulder, turning them around and shouting “I SAID PUT YOUR HANDS UP!”  
Her headphones clattered onto the glass display case.  
“Maiden’s name, you’re a damn stupid kid, move. MOVE!” The goon yelled, to which Ruby could only stammer “Oh, ah, okay then…”  
Ruby herself was already shaking, slowly raising her hands and keeping herself turned around as she watched the other haphazardly dressed and occasionally armoured goons flood in. Soon enough, the thug had pushed her aside and started breaking into the glass cases along with the others, which just happened to destroy her headphones in the process. Another inconvenience for the night, but she could hear a bigger one barking orders from the back of the line before one of the goons made a ruckus breaking down the back door into storage.  
“…Geez, first we miss the shipment and now we’ve fallen to this tiny place? Get moving!” Came a flamboyant voice, swaggering his through his men to reveal that he wasn’t just the most polite of them, but also the best dressed. White coat, black slacks and a bowler hat of all things which kept his straight red hair in place. He strolled into the center of the store as his thugs grabbed briefcases and stuffed bags, scanning the room. Nobody said a word.  
“Do I really have to say it?” The man spun his cane on his wrist and in a flash shot down the shelves and racks of dust behind the shopkeep, who had before then been frozen and whimpering, but was now cowering and screaming. “HELLO? THIS IS A ROBBERY! PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!” The suited thief exclaimed violently.  
“I’ll give you all my Lien, please! Just leave my store alone, p-p-please!” The storekeep stammered, which got the thief to feign some grand surprise. They held up their hand to get the attention of their men.  
“Really? What a generous gift! Throw it here!” The thief commanded as one of his men manhandled the storekeeper and rustled through their pockets before they could find and throw their wallet to the them. They hit the register sharply with the stock of one of their guns and started loading in that Lien as well. “Thanks! Now tell me where the supply trucks are parked.” He barked  
“Wha-”  
“Do it!” That’s all it took for the storekeep to point a shaking hand further into the back room. The men wasted no time in heading towards the back of the building and picking up the rest of the store’s materials.  
Ruby didn’t waste a moment dispatching the entire line of guards heading back there. It wasn’t something a camera could exactly pick up other than a swirling streak of red knocking the goons about like ragdolls into the back room and the singular crack that was heard as an armoured man was knocked out of the room and into a window, out cold. She had to walk out slowly, exhausted, her weapon not even fully extended and dragging behind her like a large, two handed club. She was met by a hail of bullets brought on by a simple hand signal from the thief. They were met by their own rounds, pinging about the cleaned out storefront and forcing the remaining in to dive through the windows and fall back. A stray bullet buzzed away from Ruby’s weapon and hit the camera, putting it out of commission.  
The street light camera, on the other hand, continued the story; the full scythe of Ruby’s weapon had been extended, dotted with paint scratches and gunpowder marks from the bullets. More men began to flood out from rooftops and alleyways, training their sights on the now hyperventilating little girl in front of them. The thief stood back at the sight of her walking out of the broken storefront.  
“You’re serious? Are you kidding me? Get me out of here, we’re blowing this popsicle stand. The rest of you can surely take care of this wannabe.” He began to walk back into the darker streets, out of view. Ruby’s next swings however, were crystal clear. A sniper took the first shot, and from there she flew at them, kicking them off the roof to ragdoll onto the ground. She jumped from that point to nail a man with a body blow from the back of the scythe, swinging it backwards to take out others with the blunt end of her blade. Before they even knew what they were shooting at, Ruby appeared to ping from place to place, blocking each bullet with a set of strikes and swings, sending one right into a couple of the shooters’ legs and arms. Those guys were already running away, leaving the rest laid out on the street while Ruby took the time to cool off, breathe and head back towards the storefront.  
You might’ve been able to hear her call for the storekeeper, if the shuddering of helicopter blades didn’t drown her out completely. The camera couldn’t even see what she was preparing to take aim at, quickly rolling into a crouched stance and switching her weapon into sniper mode.  
“Bite my dust, Little Red!” Shouted the thief from on high, the cocking of his cane-gun audible through his megaphone.  
The camera could only pick up the guns firing, but neither of the projectiles would ever land. A purple aura surrounded the projectiles and caused them to drop with a clatter onto the street. Glass, unconscious thieves, dust. All of the carnage was beginning to levitate back into their place or their piles to clear the street and diffuse the situation. A formally dressed woman came between it all, seeming to use a riding crop as a wand with the same purple aura. She shielded Ruby from yet more shots, and cleaned everything away before people began to arrive.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“I hope you haven’t forgotten our conversation since that night.” The smartly dressed woman added before retrieving the scroll from the table. Ruby had been munching away while eagerly watching the action but she swiftly stopped herself and swallowed so that she could respond.  
“No, Professor Goodwitch, but I think an entire fight with the infamous Roman Torchwick counts as experience, right?” Ruby shyly smiles still attempting to hide her pride.  
“Experience that you shouldn’t have brought on yourself in the first place…” The professor’s face comes into the light as well, revealing her blonde hair, narrow face, and elliptical glasses. Ruby's puppy dog pout looked even more insignificant next to the woman, who looked like a giant compared to her. “…Though, seeing as no help had been called already, I suppose that you stepped up where you had to.” Ms. Goodwitch admitted.  
“Congratulations on your success there, Ms. Rose.” praised Ozpin, finally revealing a slight smile before continuing to write. Ruby put on another embarrassed grin while The Headmaster across from her began to speak once more. “Oh, and I have one more question.” He quietly spoke, glancing up occasionally.  
“I’ll answer it the best I can, promise!” Ruby piped up, quite enthused.  
“It doesn’t immediately pertain to the interview, so it isn't necessary for you to answer, I'm just personally curious." The headmaster continued to quickly extole excuses, looking quite bashful as well.  
"It's fine with me, shoot, I can take it!" She nodded along, waiting for the question at hand.  
"Do you think there's anything strange going on with your eyes?" Ozpin inquired, sounding like he was completely befuddled by what he saw in front of him. Ruby did too, quizzically touching the top of her cheek under her eyes.  
"Oh…I've been hearing that for a while now. You're talking about the silver stuff right?" She asked waiting for Ozpin to nod. "Nobody knows, I remember the first time I saw it was a week ago...I remember being really tired when I woke up that morning, but other than that I don't know." Ruby lowers her eyes, looking just the slightest bit concerned.  
"Don't worry about it then, I don't want you to leave your interview antsy, after all! We'll get back to you about your results near the end of the summer, you can keep the cookies. Professor Goodwitch, can you lead this young prospect out?" Ozpin closed out the interview, waving to Ruby as she was led out of the room eating another cookie.  
"Wait, does that mean I made it in? Oh come on, you're going to kill me with suspense-mmf...And sugar! I'm gonna die!" She continued with her excitement and hummingbird breaths all the way down the hallway. And the light was flicked off.

ONE MONTH LATER  
The airship ride from Patch to Beacon Academy was only a good four hours. Four hours that Ruby Rose spent talking to her big sister, examining her eyes, checking her equipment, examining her eyes, and when she wasn't doing any of those three, she was sleeping. But, considering how fast she was going, she was cycling through all four every thirty minutes.  
"Yang, are you sure my eyes are okay?" She asked once more, hearing the airship come in for a landing.  
"This is the millionth time you've asked that! You're fine, everything about you is more than fine, sis. Look-" The yellow haired youth dressed in her brown leather coat, emblematic crop top, and leather short shorts tried to turn her sister's head towards her, finally able to do it once she squished her pale face together.  
"I have seen you train for this ever since I've known you, you've saved an entire dust shop from armed thieves-"  
"Yang, don't go around saying that!" Ruby exclaimed, turning redder by the second.  
"No, shut up, I'm bragging on my little sister, you can't stop me. You were top of your class at Signal and graduated two years early. And you know what? You've still got the red eyes of a warrior."  
"What about the silver though?" She asked, her words barely squeezing past her lips.  
"Your eyes are probably like mine, then, people's eyes change over time, so stop being a wittle bwaby about it."  
"Yaang…" Yang couldn't tell if it was her light teasing or the fact that she might be crushing her face that was making her tear up.  
"Ah...Sorry sis, but the point is no matter what you do, once people see that, you will be, undoubtedly, the cat's pajamas." She beamed, letting go of Ruby's face.  
"Do you think being the cat's pajamas will make me a better Huntress?" Ruby pouted, crossing her arms as she sat back for the landing.  
"I know how you are, Rubes. You've wanted to do this for longer than I've been your sister. The only reason you're even asking me this is because you know it's gonna be tough here. Isn't that why you applied?" Yang sat back as well, looking out of the window as the ship slowed down. Ruby was eventually the one who broke the silence.  
"Do you think she'd be proud of me?" She asked. Yang immediately knew what this was going to turn into.  
"Rubes, you've gotta stop worrying about who's proud of you. Eventually people are going to look up to you and ask that question." Yang broke into a prideful smirk, while Ruby looked down, staying silent. "Oh, don't do that...I'm only saying that because you kick ass, and I think your mom would be proud of you kicking ass too." As the ship's doors opened, Ruby looked up and smiled at her words.  
Everyone loaded out of airships, ships, helicopters, barges, all guided by semaphore or other signals so that everyone could get organized and walk onto the front platform for Beacon Academy proper. No matter what direction the new prospective hunters were coming from, no one could ignore Beacon's signature spire, towering in the short distance between them and the rest of the school. Ruby found herself dazzled by it, standing there with her weapon on her back, suitcase trailing behind her, and with her silver emblem proudly pinned to her belt. This was quite possibly the clearest day she'd ever seen, no clouds, all sun, and the air was full of the sounds of chatting and birdsongs.  
"Attention prospective freshman class of Beacon Academy!" Bellowed the distinctly familiar voice of Ms. Goodwitch from the end of a megaphone. "We will be guiding all of you to the cafeteria where you'll be put into alphabetical order and prepared for Initiation. Please store your weapon in your respective lockers with the 4-digit code you were given before being seated! And unless you want to end up weaponless, do NOT be late!" They announced, a chime playing over the PA system to signify the message ending.  
"Looks like it's time for us to go, eh, Ruby?" Yang said, walking up beside her and looking towards the spire with her sister.  
"Are you going to walk me to the cafeteria?" Ruby asked, now looking up to her before being embraced into her sister's chest with their strong arms. Embraced however would be the kind word, crushed was more like it.  
"Aww, petal cheeks, you're a big girl now, you'll be fine." Yang released her, leaving Ruby to gasp for air. A space made just perfect enough, just wide enough for a blonde-haired guy to stream in between the two and go completely green spilling sick in front of them.  
"Eek!!!"  
"Ew, Maiden's name, what?!" Both girls jumped back, moving all of their things away as fast as they could. "Yikes, I got some on my shoe! Geez! What's your deal vomit boy!?" Yang's eyes went full crimson, cracking the ground slightly with a stomp.  
"I-I think I have to check on him…" Ruby began to step forward, meekly looking back to Yang as she began to breathe to attempt calming down.  
"...It looks like you'll be walking someone else now, Rubes." She chuckled, walking back into the crowd and holding out her arms. "Don't worry about me sis! I'll be doing my own thing... Starting this year with off with a Yang!" And at that moment, Yang was spotted and brought off by all her friends who she knew were coming along, and Ruby was left with a quaint little smile, walking off after the sick kid ahead of her. Strolling off to the kid heading towards the trashcan through the trail of people avoiding him, she began to wave and shout for him over the people gossiping and being disgusted.  
"Hey! You okay! If you're late, you won't be able to store your weapon!" She exclaimed, watching the guy drape himself over the trashcan, still slightly green despite his fair skin.  
"Why...gah...would I need my weapon for orientation?" He asked in a slightly nasally voice, making Ruby blink.  
"Um...This is initiation." She corrected, moving in closer to check on him. "Uh, ah...What's your name?" Ruby asked, regaining her chipper tone.  
"Wh-what?" He stammers, standing up and revealing the white shield on his back. "Oh, my name's Arc, Jaune Arc." The same Jaune Arc who straightened his back and fixed his armour plates in front of her, but still had the wherewithal to keep his vomit breath back.  
"Nice to meet you Jaune! I think I can...help you up there if you want." Ruby smiled and gave him a thumbs up but shrank back when he just stood there looking clueless. For once, Ruby looked at somebody and thought they would slow her down. She could only sigh and try to sling him over her shoulder, feeling the air get crushed out of her.  
"Woah there, wait, I can walk, I can walk!" Jaune's eyes widened in his concern, sobering up from his seasickness in no time. But Ruby just shook her head and wheezed out her next few words.  
"Hold...on…!"  
A red streak raced through the crowds, the petals of roses flying into the air.

[End Episode Recording…Begin Credits…]

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! We are TheReWritersGuild! Two guys taking things we'd reimagine and putting those ideas into words. This'll be the first episode of something we're trying to make a full conversion of the series, although major detours will be made. You'll have to stay tuned to see where we twist and turn. Critiques and opinions welcome!


End file.
